This invention relates to a portable framework designed to facilitate filling a flexible bag, sack or sandbag. A typical use could be for filling sandbags for flood control or protection from blast or ordnance where speed of manual filling could be of importance.
Currently, sandbags are usually filled by hand with one person holding the neck of the bag open while another person fills the bag with sand or other material using a spade or shovel. Due to the shape of the normal sandbag with a small cross section area relative to the length of the bag, it is difficult to fill the sandbag fast without considerable spillage. Various methods have been tried to improve the filling rate of the sandbags such as inverted cut-off traffic cones and simple funnels inserted into the top of the bags, but most of these systems still involve a team of two people to fill one sandbag
This invention provides for a framework to hold a bag, sack or sandbag to allow a single operator to manually fill sandbags, or other flexible containers, in less time than a team of two operators working without the benefit of this invention. The structure enables simple regulation of the content of the bag to facilitate tying and to ensure the correct degree of fill for subsequent use For example sandbags for use in building flood defenses are required to be at most ⅔ full.
Transport or hand carrying of the framework is important in many flood situations. The invention provides a strong, light structure that is stable in use and can be readily dismantled and reassembled into a smaller format to enhance transport and storage. At the same time the framework includes a structural element that enables simple carrying of the whole.